{Heirloom Tomato Tostada}

I’ve been on a salsa verde kick this week. At my weekly trip to Trader Joe’s on Sunday, I picked up a jar just to have on hand. We normally use their salsa verde for enchilada sauce, but I’ve found myself adding it on everything this week!

As much as I love my salsa verde, the real star of this dish is the heirloom tomato. The color may look a little dark, but it was just added so much fresh flavor to the dish. And the best thing about this meal is that it took about 20 minutes to make from start to finish–can’t beat that!

Heirloom Tomato Tostada Recipe

Serves 2

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Ingredients:

2 flour tortillas

1 ear fresh corn

1/2 cup lettuce, chopped

1 medium heirloom tomato, diced

1/2 cup havarti cheese

1/4 cup salsa verde

1 chicken breast

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

1/2 teaspoon Cumin

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1/2 Lemon, juiced

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Steps:

Heat olive oil in medium size frying pan. Add chicken, season with salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, and lemon juice. Break chicken into smaller pieces and cook for about 5 minutes. Add corn and cook for another minute.

Remove chicken and set aside. Place tortillas in frying pan (or a skillet) on medium heat. Brown one side of the tortilla, flip, then sprinkle cheese on top. Cook until slightly melted, about 2 minutes.

Add chicken, lettuce, and salsa verde to the top of your tostada and enjoy!

PS It’s easiest to eat the tostada with a knife and fork, or just cut it with a pizza cutter before serving.

PPS I’m so excited that it’s Friday–2 more days till I get to experience Savor the Central Coast!!

{Midweek Sloppy Joes with Onion Rings and Grilled Zucchini}

I was really excited about making this dinner all week. I haven’t had sloppy joes in forever and since I’m back on my comfort food kick, it seemed like the perfect meal to make. We bought my favorite frozen onion rings from trader joes to go along with the meal, definitely a guilty pleasure but so worth it! I also grilled some zucchini in some olive oil with some salt and pepper just so I could say it was a well rounded meal.

It’s been HOT here on the central coast this week, but I’m still trying to channel fall with my food choices. Please? I’m hoping to head to Avila Valley Barn on Saturday to grab some fall decor for our kitchen table so even if the weather won’t cooperate, I can at least pretend when I’m inside.

Oh yeah, and I used ground turkey in my recipe–can’t say I’ve ever had a sloppy joe with beef!

Here’s the Sloppy Joes Recipe

Makes 4

*adapted from Cooking Light

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Ingredients:

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 cup corn kernels

3/4 pound ground turkey

2 cups tomato sauce

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon mustard

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

4 rolls

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

Steps:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Add the onion, pepper and turkey meat. Cook until turkey is browned, stirring to crumble.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients (expect the rolls).

Cover and cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Toast rolls, add turkey, and enjoy!

{Risotto with Zucchini}

I recently rediscovered one of my favorite cookbooks–Great Food Fast from the Martha Stewart kitchen-when searching for inspiration in the kitchen this week. The thing I love the best about this book is that its organized by season and thus, uses the freshest of seasonal ingredients in its recipes. However, the recipe I’m sharing with you today is actually in the spring section, but the zucchini really did come fresh from the farmer’s market, I promise!

From the picture, you can obviously tell that our risotto turned out a bit different darker than most. The best explanation I have for this is that we used vegetable broth instead of chicken broth which I think tinted the color a bit. The flavor wasn’t altered at all.

This was definitely the perfect recipe to use some of the veggies I picked up at farmer’s this weekend!

Risotto with Zucchini Recipe

Serves 4     

Adapted from Great Food Fast by Martha Stewart

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Ingredients:

2 cans (14.5oz each) reduced-sodium chicken broth (I used vegetable broth instead)

3 tablespoons butter (close your eyes!)

2 large zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch rounds

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Salt and pepper, to taste

Steps:

Heat the broth and 2 1/2 cups water in a saucepan over low heat. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the zucchini is golden, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer the zucchini to a small plate or bowl.

Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Raise the heat to medium. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until translucent around the edges, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until absorbed, about 2 minutes.

Cook the rice, adding 1 cup hot broth at a time (stir until almost all of the liquid is absorbed before adding more), until tender, about 25 minutes.

Add the zucchini back in and cook until warm. Remove from heat and top with the parmesan and parsley.

Enjoy!

{Back to Comfort Food}

For the past few weeks, comfort food Sundays have turned into take-out Sundays in our house. My intentions are always good and I usually have a meal planned but, somehow, by the end of the day I just don’t feel like being in the kitchen. This Sunday, I really wanted to get back to cooking. It is, after all, one of my favorite parts of Sunday. And after a meal like this, I’m hoping we’ve kicked that Sunday night take-out habit for good.

Real Simple Magazine is sponsoring a 30 days of home cooked meal event on their website and in their magazine, and while I haven’t been participating, this recipe made me stop and want to run into the kitchen: skillet poached eggs with braised onions and peppers. Sounds amazing, right?

It was the perfect meal to get back into Sunday cooking–hearty, warm, and comforting. Plus, you cook everything in one pan so there’s virtually no mess! Our eggs were definitely more sunny side up than poached, but that didn’t really bother me. I also added half of that pasilla pepper for a little heat and color.

I served mine with bread on the side…

while Jeff served his on top of his bread.

After 1.5 bites, I ended up piling mine on top of the bread too–definitely the way to go!

Here’s the recipe:

Serves 2

Adapted from Real Simple Magazine, October 2011

Print recipe!

Ingredients:

1.5 tablespoons olive oil

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 pasilla pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, sliced

1/2 14.5oz can diced tomatoes

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon paprika

Salt and pepper, to taste

Steps:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add peppers and onion and cook, stirring often, until it begins to soften, about 3-5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until very tender, about 6-8 more minutes.

Add the tomatoes (with their juices), paprika and about 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper to the skillet. Cover and simmer until the liquid has thicken slightly, about 3-5 minutes.

Using a spoon, make 4 shallow wells in the vegetables and crack an egg into each one. Season each egg with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat until the egg whites are set, about 2-3 minutes.

Spoon eggs and vegetables onto toasted bread, sprinkle with parsley, and enjoy!